Nina Davies blends fiction and non-fiction in her work to help us see the world in new ways. For this project, she worked with Eve, Luke, and Mel, three young people from the Liverpool City Region who the Teenage and Young Adult Unit at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust. Over the past year, they have created an artwork based on their experiences of living with and beyond cancer. 

The group came together to imagine a fictional podcast and film, inspired by the complexities and confusion of going through cancer treatment. They shared stories of their experiences: one recalled returning after surgery to find someone else in their hospital bed. What once felt private and personal had suddenly become someone else’s. This constant shifting of space, ownership and privacy became the spark for a speculative story about what comes with being a patient. 

A digital twin used by architects when designing The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre to virtually replicate, record and monitor real-time data became the focus for the group’s creative sci-fi storytelling. Nina, Eve, Luke, and Mel began to wonder how future generations might reinterpret these places if only their digital twins were to survive.

The group created three fictional characters: Luna Odelle Otto of the Institute of Internal Reasons, Anthro-Technic Excavationist Anakin Orion, and Glio B. Godman, Professor of Lost Rituals. Through them, they devised The BB, a fictional podcast that uncovers a hidden digital twin connected to a radioactive zone outside the imaginary city of Eeldigs. The story unfolds like an investigative documentary, drawing us into an immersive narrative where fact and fiction blur.

The imagined world of the podcast is brought to life in the gallery installation. We encounter Luna, Anakin, and Glio inside a secret bunker, debating the purpose of a mysterious machine said to detect human auras, which appear to be the key to accessing a hidden digital twin. Stepping deeper into the installation, we enter the digital twin itself, where Glio and Luna reappear alongside a video recounting the story that led us to this discovery. As Luna notes in the story: “We do know it was a transient space… somewhere where people were coming and going, but not living in.” This speculative world reflects the lived experiences of Eve, Luke, and Mel, inviting us to share in their stories.

Through this collaboration, FACT continues to build on its commitment to working with young people to create spaces of agency, imagination and care. By supporting artists to work with participants, FACT aims to transform lived experience into new forms of knowledge, amplifying voices and exploring how art can shape both wellbeing and the systems that surround it.